GEORGE
TABORI Les Variacions Goldberg
Length: 1h 45’
The play was represented from the 19 of October to the 11 of December 2005 in the Rialto theatre of Valencia.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Mr. Jota: ( Enric Benavent) is a really authoritarian man. He
is really passionate but not only in the good sense. He is like a coin, he has
two really different sides. Josep Maria Mestres describes him as “ [...] scene director
both divine and demonic, authoritarian, paternal, tyrannical, jealous, charming
and hateful”. He is nearly in love with the Bach’s piece Goldberg’s
Variations which can be heard some times during the play. This work of art
is modified during the play varying its rythm and also its melody. He is
dressed in a black suit to contrast with his white hair. He loves women as he
shows when Ernestina and Teresa appear on stage.
Goldberg: (Josep Manel Casany) He is probably the main character, he gives
name to the play. He works as an assistant of Mr. Jota, it means a direction
assistant. He is a really serious man and he is always concentrated on the
work, which is theatre. During the play he also interprets characters as Jesus
or Moises. He is not as authoritary as Mr. Jota, he is more calm and
considerated with actors. Goldberg wears also a dark suit and brown shoes. He
is younger than Mr Jota and sometimes feels desperate with the actors and also
with Mr Jota.
Raamah: ( Juansa
Lloret) He is an actor who works for
Goldberg and Mr. Jota. He is a non comformist man and he is always complaining
about lots of things. He is thin, a little bit bald but not too old. We can see
him dressed in too different ways as with a fur coat, with a grapevine leaf,
black long socks and a raincoat,... He interprets papers like Caín, Adan,
Abraham
Masch: (Ferran
Gadea) He is another actor. He is quite different to Raamah but he uses to
do what Raamah does. He also interprets Abel, the snake and Sara (Abraham’s
wife).He is a little bit fat and short and he is less demanding than Raamah. We
can see him dressed on a snake fancy dress, also dressed like a woman and with
a fur coat as Raamah.
Jafet: (Manolo
Ochoa) he is an author dissatisfied.
He plays the papeer of angel, of smoke, Isaac and also he is angel of
the hell. He is very fun and funny. He
gives most of the funny moments to the play with his special way of talking and
his explanations. He is really thin and not too tall. We can see him dressed on
a tracksuit and also semi-nude.
Mari: (Cristina
García) She works as the cleaner of the theatre. She is not too old, she is probably in her thirties. She is
wearing a light dressing gown with some long black socks and a coloured dress.
She is always cleaning, and she is really peaceful and pleasant. In the end she
has a paper as the Virgin. She has a really distinctive voice tone, because it
is a little bit high.
Ernestina Van Veen: (Iolanda Muñoz) She is the
atrezzo’s manager. She is really perfectionist and she likes everything to be
correct. She works hard and takes her job really seriously. She wears an umbrella, an eccentric jacket,
a dark low-cut t-shirt, trousers above her ankles and high-heeled shoes with
socks. She also wears glasses and she is a little bit “posh”.
Teresa Tormentina: ( Núria García) She is a
really attractive actress. She has the paper of Eva during the play but she is
not agree with Goldberg and Mr. Jota in most of their decisions. She does not worry about showing her
dissapointment with them and the play so there are lots of arguments during the
play. She is a young actress and she has a really beautiful body. We can see
her dressed with a multicoloured kimono, a towel on her head and black
high-heeled shoes.
Angels of hell:
(Manolo Maestro, Jordi Gomar, Pau Blanco) This angels are
musicians who are supposed to sing lively. They sing songs that made public
brighten up. They wear special clothes, not easy to describe. They wear
outlandish clothes, really colourful some of them and others with lots of
metals, dark colors, ... They move a lot and they are a little bit shocking
when you are watching the play.
SPACE: When you come into the theatre you see the stage as you are going to
see it during the play. There are few things hidden and there are also few
things showed. This is not a play with complicated atrezzo and changes of
scenes. There is no curtain and lights are on when you come in. At the left of the scene there is an office desk with two chairs. On the
table there is a lamp and a Bible. At the back there are some mobile walls with
wheels and totally at the bottom there is a spiral staircase. The walls have
different decorations on each side so they are used during all play to liven up
each scene.
LIGHTING : Lighting was formed by some
spotlights but specially when Angels appear and when the crosses do lights
change. When Angels appear there are lights upside between six and eight and
also coloured lights that accompany the music.. When crosses are used light is
reduced and changed into a more yellow one.
CLOTHES:
This play has a really mixure of clothes. There are lots of styles mixed
mainly because we see in a play that a play is going to be represented.
Characters are seen with their clothes and also with the clothes of the characters
they are going to represent on the other play. This way we can see for example
Jafet wearing a tracksuit and also an angel suit. Goldberg and Mr. Jota use
elegant clothes, dark suits with shoes but without tie. Raamah and Masch are
all the play using clothes of the epoque in which the play is represented
unless when they are playing to be Sara and Abraham when they are wearing
“normal” clothes. Mari and Teresa Tormentina use clothes that could be common
at home, unless both have a coloured style and mix complements that are not
usually mixed like a towel with high-heeled shoes and long socks with skirt.
Ernestina van Veen does not use common clothes. She wears brand clothes and she
has a particular way of dress. She is ellegant and vain. Angels use the most
different clothes. They wear dark clothes, chains, also some colors... Then
when Bible is represented there are used also clothes that were supposed to be
used during that time.
ATREZZO: The atrezzo is different depending
on the scene which is represented., The most important items that are used in
this play and the ones that have a really essential paper are mobile walls.
This walls can be the sea when Noah is navigating, the crosses, just some
walls... There are also used some animal cuddly toys to represent Noah’s ark
and some wooden or cardboard sheeps. Quite at the end of the play there are
hanging lots of flags. There is also used water on the stage which made the
play more real because you can hear its sound while you are seeing it. At the end
of the play there is used a curtain in the sense that the play is going to
start.
PERSONAL OPINION: There was a really familiar atmosphere at the theatre because we met
lots of students there. There was not really full of people so there was not a lot
of noise. There were some women who had a really unusual and easy laugh so when
she at the beggining when she was
laughing all public laugh with her but then we could not hear the play.
Appart from this fact, I think the company has
a really good team and actors are really professional. They were spontaneous
and the play was really good.
I liked the play but I got lost a little bit
when started to appear lots of actors at the scene and I got a little confused.
I did not understand completely for example the sense of the flags during the
play and I could not hear well what was saying the voice in off. Appart from
this, I think is a really good play and I would reccomend it because it does a
really good vision of Bible and it not falls on topics or predictable actions
or scenes. I think it is a play that is not considered as “politically
correct”. George Tabori and also Josep Maria Mestres have done a good job and
of course actors. This is what I call having a good time at theatre.
INTERESTING WEBSITE ON THE TOPIC:
http://teatres.gva.es/producciones_propias/goldberg/